NOTES: With the way the Baseball Gods have been pouring rain on the state of Florida over the past few days, there’s a chance RHP A.J. Burnett’s rehab outing on Wednesday morning could be a wash. If that’s the case, it’s likely that Burnett will throw a simulated game under the lovely roof at the Trop prior to tomorrow’s game. … Thigpen took on the role of "Little Hurt," filling in as Toronto’s DH in order to give a day off to Frank Thomas. It’s only the second game this season that the Big Hurt has sat when the DH is in use. … LF Reed Johnson was also given the day off. … Surprise! The Jays made no trades by the 4 p.m. ET deadline. That didn’t stop one of the Jays to ring Glaus’ cell phone when the TVs in the clubhouse playing Baseball Tonight had the countdown down to just one minute. The room was filled with plenty of laughs when Glaus realized he had been dooped by one of his teammates. … Litsch received a warm welcome from the sparse crowd inside the Trop. He’s from nearby Pinellas Park and had plenty of family and friends in attendance. … Jays signed LHP Mark Redman to a Minor League contract and shipped him to Triple-A Syracuse. … The Jason Frasor watch continues. The invisible righty hasn’t pitched since July 20 and he’ll be the subject of the Jays notebook on the Web site today. So, stay tuned…

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I read an article down here about Litsch. He told Carl Crawford that he would face him in the big leagues. I guess the kid had a crystal ball with him.

I know you Jays fans don’t like Crawford ( from what he did last night ) If you were ever around him you would want him on your team. One of these guys that are extremely taleneted ( football scholarship to Nebraska–basketball scholarship to U.C.L.A.) but what a great kid from what I have witnessed. Is there a more athletic outfield than the Devil Rays? I don’t think so. Any thoughts out there guys?

Crawford is one my favorite players. I like the way he plays and his attitude is great as well. I am sure he is very frustrated playing in baseball **** ( I meant to write Tampa Bay ) lol. Imagine if he played in Boston or N.Y., Crawford would be a household name.

The Jays and Rays are not a match for Crawford. Crawford came up in late July of 2002, I think he’ll be a free agent after 2008 or 2009. I’m not sure on that. Crawford, Upton and Young are guys you need to build around. Kazmir as well, Baldelli is expendable but he is A.J. Burnett, they get hurt when they wake up in the morning.

bosox, you ask if there is a more athletic outfield? well, maybe not, but I would strongly contest that the Jays have the best outfield fielding-wise. All three guys are quick with great arms, all of whom can play center field. Not to mention the man in the middle that already has three gold gloves with a fourth coming in a few months

also, what are the jays gonna do with redman? the rotation is gonna be overstocked as it is with both Burnett and Chacin coming back soon. all JP is doing here is taking away innings from some young guys down in Triple-A

ukgocats3.If the Jays worked on it those 3 outfielders could steal a lot of bases but the team managment thinks base stealing is a thing of the past they should look at the 90 plus against them,Plus we have a catcher that says it dosen’t matter if they steal as long as the pitcher makes quality pitches,Why does he say that because he cant throw his granny out. WHAT happend to thigpen catching Zaun start to cry again remember they said 2 or 3 times a week.

The Rays also have 3 guys that could play c.f. Young has one of the strongest arms in baseball. Ichiro and Gurrero have better arms, other than that nobody. Wells is a great centerfielder and he will be winning gold gloves for years to come. The Rays are about 8 pitchers short of a staff. Wheeler, Reyes, Shields and Kazmir are keepers, Sonnestiene and other than that they have a bunch of Joe’s and John’s hanging around. Jackson has all the stuff but not too much after that. When things go bad for Jackson he gets down on himself real quick and then all of a sudden he has given up 7 runs in 5 innings.

i dont know bosox i think rios has proved his arm is up there with the ones you mentioned. i remember a game i went to in 2005 against the yankees he threw a runner out at home from the wall without a cutoff man– and came close to doing it on the fly. as for the rays pitching staff i couldnt agree more, other than possibly wheeler as a key component. he is sort of old hat. there are 75 other guys in this league just like him.

Rios has a strong arm but not in the category as Ichrio, Gurrero, Young and Jose Guillen would have to be on that list. Francoer of the Braves would be ahead of Rios. Best fielding o.f. I would lean the Jays way. Rays are up there, it is Upton’s first year in c.f. and that kid is a star for sure. Young has a stronger arm than Rios, don’t get me wrong Rios has a strong arm.

I never liked the signing of Drew and anyone I knew didn’t like it. That was a classic case of a g.m. ( Theo ) falling in love with a player. They bidded against themselves, that makes no sense to me at all. 70 million for 5 years, are you kidding me? Who would give that guy that kind of $$$$$? I could go on and on but why bother. Let me focus on the good with the Sox, they’re winning despite nothing from Mrs. Nancy Drew. That is my rant for the night.

Cabrera does have a strong arm but I think he is a Yankeee hype machine though. Always hearing about all these young players with the Yankees but they always disappear after a while don’t they? The ones they keep usually do well but the one’s they trade falter. Homer Bush, who can forget him.

My new hero is Jessie Litsch, I might have walked by him and never knew who he was. The kid came back to Pinellas County and shut down the locals. Pinellas Park is also where Boof Bonser of the Twins was born. What is in the water there? Not the prettiest city in the world.

Beer aside, I’d definitely take Crawford over either Rios or Wells. In my opinion, he’s up there with Jose Reyes as one of the most exciting players in baseball. Put him in the 3 hole and surround him with good, veteran players and he’d be up there in almost every offensive category. That and Crawford shows hustle almost every game and comes through in the clutch, unlike Rios who needs to step it up from being naturally good to a hard-working great (although he does seem to be improving) and Wells who folds in pressure situations (i.e. actually hitting with runners in scoring position).

And, yeah, what’s with the Redman signing? He seems like another shot-in-the-dark like Ohka, Zambrano, and Thomson and we all know how those turned out….

I don’t know how Redman did, but i know he did much better then Josh Towers ever does. Hey, if were not gonna use Frasor, why not trade him to someone who needs a decent relief pitcher, who if like everyone. Throw Towers into the deal, im sure something could have gotten done before the end of the trade deadline.

Honestly, does anyone think we could have upgraded through trades ? Frasor, Towers,Wolfe, Stairs ? All guys that could have gotten something decent. Stairs has more homers this year then Texeria, and he’s playing for close to league min. The jays could have at least got something like a shortstop, or something ?

I’m with you on that a lot of the guys wanted to see something happen but our GM likes the team the way it is Towers has no value you cant get much for Stairs who wants Clayton they still think frasor has a future with them they are still high on wolfe.

Scouts say that Crawford is the fastest in the game from home to first, just ahead of Reyes, Ichiro and Gaithwright. This just in Crawford or Rios, you can’t go wrong either way. Those 2 are going to be around for a long time. fun players to watch, there front office’s better wake up and get some talent around those guys.

The Jays are still alive for the wild card. The Indians I am not sold on them at all. They have 2 very good starters ( Sabathia & Carmona ) after that the bullpen gets used alot and I think that will catch up to them.

well its official. The double A pitcher has the lowest ERA in the starting rotation. My guess is if Towers loses it tonight Listch is staying here and Dejong will be sent back with Towers replacing him in the bullpen. One might also wonder. I know Johnston is a great lead off guy. But I cant help but notice just how well Vernon does there. Lets try it out again. What good is Johnston getting on if Vernon cant swing him home. Plus Johnston can still be valuable in the line up no matter were he hits especially in key situations that require a bunt which would have won so many of these one run games they have had.

JordanJonathan: I could be wrong, but I think DeJong was sent down a while back. But you raise a good question: with Burnett coming back and Litsch pitching well, who gets sent down? Maybe Wolfe? The never-used Jason Frasor? Accardo and Jannsen seem pretty overworked, though, so I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to lose another arm in the bullpen.

With Towers’ inflated salary, maybe it’s got be Litsch no matter how well he pitches?

And after looking at the Jays’ AAA starting pitching staff, I’m starting to understand the Redman signing a bit better. Aside from MAYBE (and I stress the maybe) Josh Banks, the cupboard is bare in Syracuse as far as starting pitchers go. A lot of those guys have really struggled, so I guess Redman is a bit of insurance in case the Jays get hit by more injuries. Or maybe JP has some Towers’ trade simmering on the back burner?

But then the question remains, if the Jays are looking for retread veterans who can act as insurance, why did they drop Zambrano/Thomson and replace them with Redman? All those guys seem pretty interchangeable if you ask me…..

Litsche was promoted to AAA, when we sent him back down last time. He pitched well there with an era of 1.80. De Jong was sent back to AAA when Jessie was recalled.

Clearly, Jessie is the option for 2008; but if they want to keep Towers for the balance of the year, then I think they’ll likely send Jessie back down-although he’s the better pitcher.

I think they signed Redman because he’s a veteran left hander, who might be a better option than Tallet, or extra insurance, if we get seriously into the race. It could also mean they intend to put Towers out on waivers, when Burnett comes back.

gsumner: I agree that Litsch is the odd man out unless something happens to Towers. But I’m pretty sure Redman wasn’t signed to come out of the bullpen — if you look at his stats, he’s always been a starter with only a few relief appearances. I’m thinking maybe the Jays are losing hope in some of their AAA starters (i.e. Taubenheim) and they might be jettisoning some dead weight down there in the near future….

I originally posted the rumour about Lind’s concussion — from what I can tell, he hit his head pretty hard while making a play in the outfield, but it turned out not to be a concussion. They just took him out as a precaution. Good thing, too, because Lind suffered a pretty bad one last year and it’s obviously no good to have multiple concussions in a career…..

I can understand the jays loosing hope in their AAA starters-the 3 best are up here-so all that’s left at AAA are guys that aren’t going to make it. They will hold down the fort until some of the guys in A and AA are ready-or spot starts up here in the event of injury.

In addition, I think they view the rotation of Halliday, Burnett, Marcum, McGowan and Litsche as a strong rotation that hopefully stays together for years. That likely leaves Chacin on the outside looking in and Towers-a bad memory.

Towers will be in the bullpen unless he pitches a one hitter and goes 8 plus innings.

This GMs failure to address the shortstop situation has me wondering is Johnny Mac. going to play a bigger role next year or is Santos going to get a chance to show his stuff this Sept.remember if Johnny Mac’s. bat keeps working other teams are going to give him a second look this winter.

Chacin will be in the bullpen this year or he will be traded this winter and if I was Chacin after what the Jays tried to do to him by cheating him out of some of his salery I would beg to be traded.and please dont anybody say JP was just trying to save the team money this GM throws more money away than any GM ever has.also that DUI is nothing compared to some of the things that go on in sports,like dog fighting drugs betting on the sport you play shooting people and many many more things that happen is sports.

Who knows about Redman he may be the best pickup yet lets see now 1 out of 4????????.

Garry: Although that would be the ideal rotation, when Burnett comes back the Jays need to demote someone to the minors. Who’s that going to be?

I also think it’s risky to put Chacin in the bullpen considering his arm and shoulder problems. He has enough problems coming out every fifth day, so to have him come out at inconsistent times out of the bullpen would probably be disastrous. And, yes, the DUI is peanuts in comparison to some of the stuff other players do, but it also doesn’t help a guy out who’s known for being a bit of a flake. Also, I think Chacin needs time at AAA — he’s hardly been impressive over the past two years.

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